It all began with a single word, and that word was 'Aman'.
The Blessed, Free from Evil.
Paradise.
The Elf child had heard the word often, and though he thought he perceived its meaning, there was something about it that he did not understand. One day when she was teaching him to paint, guiding his small hands upon the paper, forcing them back into the right path when he faltered, he asked his mother the question, because mothers know all:
"Ammë, what is Aman?"
And she laughed, and she told him:
"Aman is where we live."
Paradise, he thought. We live in Paradise.
